Regional

12:22 pm

Thu October 11, 2012

Audit: "Catastrophic" Failure At NM Finance Authority

The state's top securities regulator says a fake audit at the New Mexico Finance Authority went undetected for months and was distributed to investors because of a complete breakdown of the agency's management and oversight.

Securities Division Director Daniel Tanaka told a legislative committee on Thursday the release of the audit with misleading financial information was a "catastrophic systemic failure in the controls surrounding the audit progress."

The authority's ex-controller has been indicted for securities fraud and forgery, but a legislator complained that no other executives are facing criminal charges. A grand jury declined to indict the authority's chief operating officer.

Rep. Sheryl Williams Stapleton, an Albuquerque Democrat, said that "the brother has taken the hit for everyone above him and I think that is so unfair."